About the amendments

Florida voters are being asked to consider eight amendments to the state Constitution.

Staff report

Florida voters are being asked to consider eight amendments to the state Constitution. To pass, the amendments must garner at least 60 percent of the vote.

• Amendment 1: Repeal of public campaign financing requirement.

This would end the constitutional requirement for taxpayer financing of political campaigns, a system that Florida voters wrote into the Constitution in 1998. The Legislature approved public financing in 1987.

This would require the Legislature to provide an additional homestead property tax exemption for members of the U.S military or military reserves, the Coast Guard or its reserves, or the Florida National Guard who receive a homestead exemption and were deployed in the previous year on active duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in support of military operations designated by the Legislature. The exempt amount will be based upon the number of days in the previous calendar year that the person was deployed.

• Amendment 4: Referenda required for adoption and amendment of local government comprehensive land use plans

Would require a vote of the people before a local government could adopt a new comprehensive land use plan, or amend a comprehensive land use plan.

Legislative districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Districts must be contiguous. Unless otherwise required, districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries.

Congressional districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Districts must be contiguous. Unless otherwise required, districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries.

• Amendment 8: Revision of the class size requirements for public schools

Would allow the current limits on the maximum number of students assigned to each teacher in public school classrooms (18 for prekindergarten through grade 3, 22 for grades 4 through 8 and 25 for grades 9 through 12) to be measured by schoolwide average, not classroom by classroom.

• Amendments 3, 7 and 9 were removed from the ballot after court challenges.